Two high-powered offenses will dictate this Rose Bowl as the Stanford Cardinal meet the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa (12-1) and Stanford (11-2) come into this game having both won four of their last five. The game will begin Friday, Jan 1 at 5:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN.
Iowa suffered a narrow defeat against Michigan State 16-13 in the Big 10 Championship game. Tevaun Smith had a big game in the loss, pulling in five passes for 110 yards and one TD. C.J. Beathard also had a big day, contributing 216 yards and a TD through the air. In the Pac-12 Championship game, Stanford defeated USC 41-22. Christian McCaffrey had a huge game running the ball for the Cardinal, totaling 207 yards and one TD on 32 carries. He added 105 yards and a TD on four receptions.
The Hawkeyes, a six-point underdog, will be looking to defend their home field when Stanford comes to town. Oddsmakers have set the Over/Under (O/U) at 56 points.
Heading into this bowl game, the Hawkeyes are 12-1 Straight Up (SU) and 7-5-1 Against The Spread (ATS). In the past five games, Iowa is 4-1 SU and 2-2-1 ATS. The Cardinal will be matching up against a stout Iowa pass defense, which only allowed 247.2 passing yards over their last five matchups.
On the other side, the Cardinal have a record of 9-4 ATS and 11-2 SU. The Cardinal went 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS over the last five games. The defensive front seven better be ready for Stanford’s bruising rushing attack which has averaged 230.4 yards on the ground over its past five games. The Stanford pass defense has given teams trouble during the past five games as well. During that time, opponents have gained an average of only 234.2 passing yards against this scary bunch.
Predictions: SU Winner – Iowa, ATS Winner – Iowa, O/U – Under
Notes
Iowa is 2-3-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
Stanford is 10-1 SU when leading at the half this season. Iowa is 11-1 SU when taking a lead into halftime.
Stanford is an even 2-2 SU in games where it wins the turnover battle, yet undefeated (5-0 SU) when losing the turnover battle.
